OSHA Releases Cranes and Derricks Draft Rule

On the heels of several recent high-profile fatal construction site incidents, OSHA announced the first major overhaul of its cranes and derricks standard since the rule's inception more than 30 years ago.

A 1,110-page draft (.pdf file) of the proposed rule was made available on the Department of Labor's Website Sept. 18, and was expected to be published in the Oct. 3 Federal Register.

The proposed rule addresses the erection, dismantling and operation of tower cranes, and sets the options for which crane operators can obtain required certification. If enacted, it would affect some 96,000 construction cranes, including 2,000 tower cranes, according to a DOL news release.

Numerous recent deaths and incidents involving cranes have pushed the issue of crane and derrick safety to the forefront of construction safety and led to calls for OSHA to complete the update. The original rule was promulgated in 1971 and has since received only two slight updates, most recently in 1993. Work on a substantial revision of the rule was completed in 2004 by a special OSHA panel, but the rule's publication was slowed by a series of required rulemaking steps.